HIGH SPRINGS – After shelling out an estimated $90,000 so far this year to bring back a police dispatch service, the High Springs Police Department is asking for another $49,000 in software and electronic security upgrades reportedly for communications and compliance issues.According to a memo sent this week by High Springs Police Department (HSPD) Chief Steve Holley, the equipment needs to be purchased to ensure “[Florida Department of Law Enforcement] compliance as well as enhanced IT capability for HSPD Communications and FDLE.”
Among the list of items being requested for funding is some $8,000 to air condition the server room and a generator for the building, a new server operating system at $3,000 and other overlay software costing thousands more.
It was not clear as of Wednesday afternoon how much of the equipment would be required if the City opted to stay with the Alachua County Combined Communications Center (CCC) operated by the sheriff’s office instead of reinstituting its own dispatch service for the police department.
High Springs City Manager Jeri Langman said the requested upgrades have come as a result of an FDLE audit of HSPD. “Some of the requirements are additional due to having dispatch here,” Langman wrote in an email. Still, she said, “Many of [the requested upgrades] would have been required with or without dispatch.”
On Wednesday morning, Commissioner Sue Weller, concerned about the request for additional spending, asked City Manager Jeri Langman for a description of each piece of equipment and its purpose, which items are required for communications and why those items weren’t presented when the commission approved reopening its own dispatch service. Weller also asked specifically if any of the items were required by law or regulation and if so, that those citations be provided.
The commission is scheduled to consider the funding request at its Sept. 13 commission meeting. In preparing to reopen the dispatch service, the commission has spent some $90,000 so far this year and has tentatively budgeted $268,000 in the 2012/13 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Funding for the dispatch has been a moving and growing target. In a controversial and hotly contested move, the commission voted in July to reopen its own dispatch service. That was after months of debate over whether or not it was more beneficial to stick with the CCC.
Many who have advocated cutting ties with the CCC say they don’t want to rename downtown streets to make them compliant with the countywide grid-based street naming system, as would eventually be required under the CCC agreement.
Proponents for switching to the city-operated dispatch service have also pointed to more local control and what they believe will be long term savings. Those savings, however, seem to be fleeting.
Based on the agreement with the CCC, the cost of dispatch for High Springs is $14.75 per call, but when the City reaches a population of 6,000, that figure would rise to $24.26. The City expects to cross that threshold in the next five years based on census projections. Even so, to operate its own dispatch service, the annual cost eclipses those of the CCC.
Some estimates project that reopening the city’s emergency dispatch center will cost in excess of $600,000 more than sticking with the CCC over the next four years.
The total cost of an in-house emergency dispatch service is estimated at $1.3 million through September 2016. On the other hand, sticking with the CCC would only cost an estimated $653,000 for the same time period, including a higher per call rate for the last of those four years. Those figures don’t account for what appears to be a rising capital outlay cost for equipment, from which the City is feeling the pinch today.
What’s more is that commissioners sent a letter to Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell, notifying the CCC of the City of High Springs’ intent to terminate the CCC agreement effective Oct. 1. But as that date has drawn closer, the City has had to ask for an extension in the event the in-house dispatch center isn’t ready.
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According to a memo sent this week by High Springs Police Department (HSPD) Chief Steve Holley, the equipment needs to be purchased to ensure “[Florida Department of Law Enforcement] compliance as well as enhanced IT capability for HSPD Communications and FDLE.”
Among the list of items being requested for funding is some $8,000 to air condition the server room and a generator for the building, a new server operating system at $3,000 and other overlay software costing thousands more.
It was not clear as of Wednesday afternoon how much of the equipment would be required if the City opted to stay with the Alachua County Combined Communications Center (CCC) operated by the sheriff’s office instead of reinstituting its own dispatch service for the police department.
High Springs City Manager Jeri Langman said the requested upgrades have come as a result of an FDLE audit of HSPD. “Some of the requirements are additional due to having dispatch here,” Langman wrote in an email. Still, she said, “Many of [the requested upgrades] would have been required with or without dispatch.”
On Wednesday morning, Commissioner Sue Weller, concerned about the request for additional spending, asked City Manager Jeri Langman for a description of each piece of equipment and its purpose, which items are required for communications and why those items weren’t presented when the commission approved reopening its own dispatch service. Weller also asked specifically if any of the items were required by law or regulation and if so, that those citations be provided.
The commission is scheduled to consider the funding request at its Sept. 13 commission meeting. In preparing to reopen the dispatch service, the commission has spent some $90,000 so far this year and has tentatively budgeted $268,000 in the 2012/13 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Funding for the dispatch has been a moving and growing target. In a controversial and hotly contested move, the commission voted in July to reopen its own dispatch service. That was after months of debate over whether or not it was more beneficial to stick with the CCC.
Many who have advocated cutting ties with the CCC say they don’t want to rename downtown streets to make them compliant with the countywide grid-based street naming system, as would eventually be required under the CCC agreement.
Proponents for switching to the city-operated dispatch service have also pointed to more local control and what they believe will be long term savings. Those savings, however, seem to be fleeting.
Based on the agreement with the CCC, the cost of dispatch for High Springs is $14.75 per call, but when the City reaches a population of 6,000, that figure would rise to $24.26. The City expects to cross that threshold in the next five years based on census projections. Even so, to operate its own dispatch service, the annual cost eclipses those of the CCC.
Some estimates project that reopening the city’s emergency dispatch center will cost in excess of $600,000 more than sticking with the CCC over the next four years.
The total cost of an in-house emergency dispatch service is estimated at $1.3 million through September 2016. On the other hand, sticking with the CCC would only cost an estimated $653,000 for the same time period, including a higher per call rate for the last of those four years. Those figures don’t account for what appears to be a rising capital outlay cost for equipment, from which the City is feeling the pinch today.
What’s more is that commissioners sent a letter to Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell, notifying the CCC of the City of High Springs’ intent to terminate the CCC agreement effective Oct. 1. But as that date has drawn closer, the City has had to ask for an extension in the event the in-house dispatch center isn’t ready.
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